Consumers can turn their iPads into the 3-D coloring book of tomorrow with the striking new patent-pending 3-D coloring app that combines the latest in 3-D animation and augmented reality. TCKL Inc., has launched The Drip Drops: Color the World app, an interactive game designed to engage and entertain children between 2 and 6 years old. Based on The Drip Drops original digital pre-school property centered on art, color, reading, and creativity, the new app debuted at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Showstoppers Media Preview on January 8. TCKL is also partnering with leading art and activity company Cra-Z-Art on The Drip Drops consumer products, which are expected to include a colorful roster of plush, art activities, and more. [Read more...]

More than 700 buyers from around the world attended the Toy Industry Association’s Fall Toy Preview 2012 in Dallas. This is a 3 percent increase in total buyers who attended to look at the new toys and games for Holiday 2013. A 10 percent increase in foreign buyers was also noted. The top five foreign countries represented by buyers were Canada, the UK, Mexico, Australia, and Hong Kong. Roughly 348 companies exhibited their latest product lines, including Alexander Doll Company, American Plastic Toys, Famosa, Hape, Inc., Melissa and Doug, Playmobil, Ohio Art, Blip Toys, Safari Ltd., and Razor USA. In sponsorship with Techno Source and presented by Carlin West Agency/NFL Rush Zone, the opening night party for the event raised funds for the Toy Industry Foundation and allowed participants to meet with Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

Hit Entertainment has appointed Techno Source, a division of LF Products, as a toy licensee for Barney. Under the terms of the deal, the Barney toy range from Techno Source will include plush, play sets, and figurines, launching this spring in the U.S. and Canada.

Barney & Friends can be seen on PBS Kids and Sprout in the U.S., and on Treehouse TV in Canada. Episodes are also available for download through iTunes.

Techno Source, a division of LF Products, has signed a deal to distribute selected lines of toy company Character Options’ best-selling products, in the U.S. The partnership deepens the companies’ existing relationship, under which Character Options has distributed many of Techno Source’s products in the UK for nearly a decade.

Techno Source will bring to market a number of Character Options’ original and licensed toys under its Techno Source and Toy Island brands. The first products to launch under this partnership will be a Scooby-Doo toy line, as part of a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products.

Character Options holds the master toy license for Scooby-Doo in the UK and U.S. The Scooby-Doo products, which include figures, play sets, vehicles, plush, and goo, will be available at mass and specialty retailers beginning in the spring.

Techno Source USA has joined the family of Li & Fung Limited, following a March 14, 2011 agreement under which LF Products has acquired the business assets of Techno Source USA, Inc. The Techno Source business will continue to operate under the management of founders Rich Migatz and Wayne Nathan, as well as Eric Levin, and will provide a platform for Li & Fung to continue to build and expand its toy business globally.

“We’re really excited about this opportunity,” says Eric Levin, president of Techno Source. “Because Techno Source and Li & Fung have been partners—they’ve been our agent—we’re just bringing our relationship even closer together, and we’re getting the opportunity to tap into the immense amount of resources that they have in terms of finance, network, customers, and supply chain, which puts us at an entirely new level in terms of our ability to take the business and drive it to the place that we’ve always hoped that it could go.”

Techno Source has been awarded exclusive licensing rights worldwide to develop Tetris tabletop games, both electronic and non-electronic. Techno Source’s tabletop games, based on the iconic Tetris video game, will be introduced at retail beginning in 2011.

Blue Planet Software, Inc., the company that manages exclusive licensing rights to the Tetris brand, has also announced that the brand will be expanding into merchandise licensing. The company hopes to ‘broaden its demographic reach and further solidify brand awareness.”

New Products

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE), TT Games, and The Lego Group will launch Lego Worlds on Feb. 21 for PlayStation4, Xbox One, and STEAM. The game is a galaxy of imaginative words made entirely of digital LEGO bricks where players can explore, discover, and create together.

TILT launched two SpinTales products online at Toysrus.com, the SpinTales Enchanted Duvet and Jungle Rug. Kids can use the free app designed for these products to create immersive augmented reality experiences with the products, which blur the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds.

Jakks Pacific has been granted the rights to manufacture and market a line of pet products inspired by the BOO—The World’s Cutest Dog brand. The Pets division of Jakks is planning a line of BOO-branded dog toys featuring BOO’s likeness and specially designed for small dogs, as well as dog apparel, dog beds, and dog [...]

To celebrate “Colorful Friday” and the launch of the new Special Edition Gemma Stone Shoppie Doll, Moose Toys is launching the “Make the World Sparkle and Shine” fan contest. To enter the contest starting on Nov. 25, fans must submit 4 to 6 sentences describing how they add “sparkle” to their world by helping out [...]

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced the release of six expansion packs for LEGO Dimensions, led by the Sonic The Hedgehog Level Pack and the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Story Pack.